Inspired by Hiroyuki Shindo’s installation at the Whitworth Art gallery in Manchester I started further studies into Earth Air Fire and Water. I already have one card in the Celtic series using this theme, and would like to have one card for each of the elements, with a dyed design and a especially developed textured paper. I might do a larger wall handing as well. I would love to hear your comments on my ideas for the each of the elements.
The Four Elements – Earth
I want a green cloth with small pure white spots to represent frozen puddles. This will be weld over dyed with woad. I am finding it difficult to get a white spot without a bit of colour in the middle using shibori. I shall have to experiment with topping the end of each tied bundle with plastic. I shall also start the tie dye before mordanting the fabric.
The Four Elements – Air
This is the most difficult element for me. I will use weld as the dye, maybe mixed with dyer’s chamomile. At the moment the design is solid block of yellow but I am experimenting with different types of spiral shibori to represent air movement. However, I am not sure whether there will be enough contrast between the yellow and the white.
The Four Elements – Fire
For me this is the easiest element to work with. This surprises me, as I am a Water sign, and I am not at all happy lighting fires. Madder is my dye of choice to represent fire. The first experiment was a large square of Habotai silk which I put over a sieve. I then placed liquidised madder roots (more…)
The Four Elements – Water
I have experimented in the past using rubber bands as a resist. In a woad vat, they give a good impression of ripples in the water. I had the best definition by wrapping a piece of silk (more…)
Ideas for Valentines Cards
A day after writing a post about lack of ideas for valentines cards, the ideas came flooding in, so writing a blog really works for me. I found a more effective way of cutting hearts, by folding a square several times and then cutting the heart on a fold. This produces four hearts and a cutout border, so no waste. The silk is a bit difficult to handle, so I will try ironing vilene or bondaweb at the back to help with the folding.
Ideas for Valentine’s Cards
Can you help me with suitable ideas for Valentine’s cards? I am looking for ideas that use the kind of materials I use on the other cards, and are not overly time consuming to make. (more…)
Paper Swatch Swap
I have just received the very exciting Paper Swatch Swap book. 47 participants of the Yahoo Paper Making group produced swatches (2 by 3 inches) of their handmade paper. There were participants from several countries (New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, UK, The Netherlands and the USA). All the swatches were posted to the organiser in Canada, who compiled books with 90 different swatches for each of the participants. I enjoyed looking through the book, with immense variety of papers. (more…)
